Permit Timeline Planner

Map every approval step and realistic durations from land closing to certificate of occupancy.

PlanBeginner

Best tool for this job

Perplexity

Searches the web and cites local government sources for review times.

Also works in

ChatGPT · Gemini

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The prompt

Fill in the [BRACKETS] with your details, then paste it into Perplexity.

You are a permitting expediter. For the project below, build a permit and approvals roadmap.

Project: [TYPE + SIZE]
Location: [CITY/COUNTY, STATE]
Current status: [e.g. under contract, zoning confirmed]

Output:
1. Ordered list of approvals likely needed (pre-application meeting, site plan, subdivision/plat, rezoning or variance if applicable, stormwater, utility connections, building permit, inspections, CO).
2. For each: responsible agency, typical documents required, and a typical duration range. Mark durations as estimates.
3. Which steps can run in parallel.
4. A Gantt-style text timeline in weeks.
5. Questions to ask at the pre-application meeting.

If you can browse, look up the jurisdiction's actual published review times and cite them. Otherwise say they need to be verified.

Example output

Illustrative example only, made up to show the format. Your results will depend on your inputs and the model.

ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE
Wk 0–2   Pre-app meeting (Planning)
Wk 2–10  Site plan review (Planning + Engineering) — 2 review cycles typical
Wk 6–10  Utility capacity letters (in parallel)
Wk 10–16 Building permit review
Est. permit-ready: ~16 weeks (verify local review times)

Bot to build

Run in Perplexity or ChatGPT with search so it pulls the county's published timelines.
Save the output as a checklist in Notion and update dates as you go.